


Tony and Remy Part Seven - Act II

by jcporter1



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Repo Men (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-24
Updated: 2013-07-24
Packaged: 2017-12-21 04:49:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/895986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jcporter1/pseuds/jcporter1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remy struggles to deal with the ghosts of his past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tony and Remy Part Seven - Act II

Act II

“Tony!”

From a million miles away, across a vast ocean and two continents, Pepper’s voice called to him.

Should he respond he wondered.

“Tony! Time to get up” he felt a violent shaking as Pepper called to him in a loud whisper. Then:

“What’s Remy doing here?”

Suddenly he was wide awake

A thousand lies were pooling behind his lips to explain why the latest Stark Industry Project was nestled in his arms. But then he realized his arms were empty. He could breath again. A glance to his left showed that Remy was a respectable three feet over and actually hanging half off the far side of the bed.

He must have gone searching for cool spots in the sheets.

“Oh. Yeah.” Tony scratched the overnight beard on his jaw line. “ He showed up in the middle of the night. Maybe he had bad dreams or something.”

Tony swung out of bed, and stepped into his sweats. Even after a night out, hell, especially after a night out he put in his two mile jog followed by 30 laps in the pool. It took the edge off.

“Marla called. Said she had to push your dinner plans back by at least an hour. Something came up at work.”

Shit!

Marla ran the best escort service in the free world. She was filthy rich, maybe richer than Tony. Independent, and adventurous. A stone cold freak in bed. She was everything he liked in a woman, and she had a selection of outfits that would put Cat Woman to shame. Normally he was like a kid waiting for Santa on a day she was coming over.

Yet today he was tempted to cancel. His mind was in turmoil since yesterday. Not only did he have sex with a man for the first time in his life… he frigging repeated the activity a second time in less than 12 hours.

He seriously needed to re calibrate his heterosexuality.

No. A date with the vinyl adorned Marla was just the thing. Re orient his libido to the distaff side.

“Yeah. That’s fine.”

“I already told her ‘yes’” , Pepper smiled.

Ok. Now. Dressed and across the room from Remy his conscious mind was wresting control from his lymbic region. His thoughts cleared. Focus on the day at hand.

“Have the team show up for breakfast meeting at 9. Let Remy sleep in a bit. Guess he will need breakfast and I don’t know what …a shower…. clothes…and be in East Wing for 10. We will start evals right away.”

Pepper didn’t need to take notes. She could have given the same instructions herself.

“Do you want me to pick up some clothes for Remy. I can do it at lunch.”

“Yes. Sure.” he hesitated at the door. “Thanks, Pepper. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Outside the remaining cobwebs in his head were chased away with a quarter mile sprint to the trail that ran around his compound. Running felt especially good today as it gave him the illusion of distance between himself and last night. Any flash of memory - a face twisted in pleasure, a moan remembered- he would kick his feet higher and faster until all he could see was the ground racing below him and all he could hear was his own ragged breath.

In fact he churned through his two miles so quickly that he did another two, then decided to forgo his swim and did four more.

When he finally coasted to a stop, spots were passing before his eyes and individual muscles were spasming in his calves and thighs.

And he was right where he had left off.

On his way back from the trail to the house he popped into the pool house and stepped in and out of the shower quickly, then wrapped a bulky red terrycloth robe around himself and hurried into the kitchen.

The crew were already gathered around the kitchen island and the small table working their way through bagels and omelets when he came in. No one raised an eyebrow at the robe. Frankly most of his employees had seen him with much less on at one time or another.

There was a mumbling of good mornings around mouthfulls of food as they all awaited instruction.

After accepting a cup of black coffee from Pepper, he cleared his throat and addressed the room.

“Who talked to General Beck?”. He took a sip and watched as everyone in the room turned and looked at his neighbor. Everyone except Mark, one of the assistants to the neurologists. He looked straight back at Tony, then down.

“Mark. Got something you want to say?”

Mark looked miserable. He twisted in his seat.

“Mr. Stark. I am so sorry. Its my brother. He is in the National Guard and General Beck said he could make it so my brother’s unit was sent over and never came back. I didn’t know what to do. My brother’s just 18…”

Tony held his hand up to stop him.

“Look. We can make this work for us. Beck thinks he has you by he short hairs. That’s fine. That means he will rely on what you tell him and leave us alone. You will feed him the information I feed you. And you will keep your ears open and gather information from him. You up to it Mark? Save your brother, save yourself, and keep Beck’s hands off our project.”

“Absolutely. Thank you Mr. Stark.” Mark looked sheepishly around the room, “ I’m sorry, you guys.”

“Don’t be,” Tony shook his head. “If he hadn’t gotten to you it would have been somebody else. Now…” he stepped between the kitchen island and the table so all eyes were on him.

“As you have no doubt heard, we have success, at last. As much as we dared hope for and possibly more. Of course it took every dime of the 30 billion the army gave us and another 10 of my own. And it took the combined brainpower of the best neuroscientists and bio-engineers in the free world, all of whom are in this room right now. It also took three tries but we’ve done it. Found a way around permanent brain injury. People all over the world will benefit from this, probably in ways we can’t even imagine. So…”

He lifted his cup of coffee, “Ladies and gentlemen- to us!”

There was a cheer in the room, as orange juice glasses and coffee mugs were lifted in toast. After a few seconds, Tony called for attention again.

“ But now, act two. Now we prove in test after test that this procedure works and works well. Remy, our patient, is waiting in East Wing to begin. I want Psyche evals first. Get back to me by one with your first impressions. After Psyche- Neurology, he’s all yours, for the rest of the day. We’ll knock off at five and meet back here tomorrow morning. How do bonuses sound?"

He smiled as a cheer went up from the people around him. The excitement in the room was similar to any moon launch, maybe greater since they were in uncharted waters. Conversations began as people filed out, debating best starting points and methods. Tony felt the energy coming off his crew. The Second Half. These guys were stoked.

Once the room had cleared out, he ran upstairs for a change of clothes and then fled to the asylum of his lab.

　

Nothing calmed his mind, no matter what the trouble, like working on a new design. That morning he threw himself into miniaturizing a servo motor-cable uplink for a robotic arm. Starting work at 10:00, by 10:17 he was whistling softly to himself, completely engrossed. By 12:30 it had been 45 minutes since he had thought of Remy at all. When the door opened, he wasn’t sure, for a second, why the lead psychologist was standing there.

“Come on in Aubrey.” he said to the thin brunette, “what’s up?’ he twisted a cable lock with a tiny screwdriver as he waited for an answer.

“You wanted a report on the subject- Remy.”

“Oh, yeah.” Tony put down the screwdriver and swiveled in his chair. “How is he?”

“Well, we ran a battery of tests, and he seems to be within the range of normal in all areas. “

“Normal, huh,”

“Yes, average or a little below average in intelligence. Gregarious, loyal, everyone likes him.” Aubrey flipped thru a folder.

“He’s a likeable guy. Anything else?” Tony asked.

“Like what?”

“Well,… is he gay?”

“Gay. I didn’t think so. But we didn’t test for that. Do you want us to?”

“No. No. I don’t know… It’s just the guy came into my room last night and fell asleep in my bed. “

“That‘s actually a good sign. Normal. He‘s having separation anxiety.”

“What’s that mean?” Tony asked.

“Well, in some ways he is having a second childhood. He wakes up in a new place with few memories. He only knows three things for sure." She ticked off on her fingers the three items. "Number one, he has a best friend named Jake, who has been with him since childhood. Number two, he has a wife named Carol, for some reason he has blocked out the divorce, and three, he has a son named Peter. The rest is a blank."

"Right." Tony nodded.

"Well, what is the first thing that he finds out?"

Tony shrugged.

"His best friend tried to kill him. Then he learns that his wife is not his wife anymore. He's in a new location. His world has changed completely. He feels like he can’t trust his own knowledge of the world. You, on the other hand, have all the answers. His friend tried to kill him, you brought him back to life. His wife threw him out, you took him in. You’re the guy with the answers. The one with the power. It’s not at all unusual for a person in that position to view the person they rely on as their guardian."

"Guardian? He thinks I'm his father?

"Something like that. He feels lost when you’re not around. He wants to know you are close by."

“What should I do?” Tony reached for his ever present tumbler of scotch, but didn't drink it, just swirled the liquid in the glass.

“Nothing." Aubrey smiled. "He will learn to take care of himself and to trust other people.”

“So should I let him sleep in my room or not?”

“That’s your call. I let my son sleep in a crib in my bedroom til he was a year old. Didn’t hurt him a bit.”

“He is Not My Son.” Tony's voice grew terse. In light of recent events, thinking of Remy as his child made him queasy.

“Of course not. I was just making an analogy. So did you want us to find out if he has homosexual tendencies?”

“No. No. …No. I didn’t think he was. Just the whole sleeping thing. You know.”

“Ok. See you tomorrow morning then. I’ve got tons of paperwork to do.” She smiled. "Don't worry, Mr. Stark, he will be find."

“Ok. Thanks Aubrey.”

Well. That was that. Marla was coming over tonight. Remy would stay in his own bed and boundaries would be established. Tony turned back to his work ignoring the nagging feeling of disappointment.

~　

At the end of an exhausting day, Remy was ready to return to what he already was considering as his quarters - the area in the house encompassing his room, Tony’s room and the den. He imagined he would have time with Tony to process what had happened that day but was disappointed to find himself on his own.

Well. except for Pepper. She had bags of clothes on his bed for him to try on and approve or disapprove. Never much of a clothes horse, he tried on a few items for fit and agreed to the lot.

After was dinner. And still no Tony.

Pepper had ordered a nice meat pie with rice and veggies on the side and milk to drink. 

She ate with him. A Cobb salad. And tried to pick up his spirits with some light conversation. But by eight o' clock she had to go and he was left on his own.

“Tony recommended you watch some of the news shows. Catch up some on what’s going on.” Pepper informed him as she left. “Oh and there’s movies and music in the den. Books too, if you want.”

“When will Tony be back?”

“Well, not tonight. He has a date. I’m sure he will see you at breakfast.”

And she was gone.

Remy couldn’t remember ever being so lonely. Not that he had many memories to compare to his current state.

He thought at first he would just go to sleep. The doctors had run him like drill sergeants all day. To check his physical capabilities, they forced him to break point over and over to make a baseline for the future. How long could he run? How fast could he do a 50 yard dash? Did his new brain work the same if he was upside down, or spun like a top?

He figured sleep would come easy.

But the silence in his room gave way to the creaks and whispers of the night before and he fled his room for the den.

He poured himself a tumbler full of what ever brown alcohol was in the first bottle he snatched from the bar and flung himself onto the leather couch.

Grabbing the remote off the end table he punched random channels. Tony wanted him to catch up with the news after all.

Tony wants….Tony wants…..

Fuck Tony.

Here Remy. I give you life. Now go crazy in your room filled with whispers and ghosts. Suffer through this loneliness like a junk yard dog on a chain. He felt like crying, but he took a gulp of the whiskey instead.

Once he had a life. Friends. A wife and child. Even some mysterious woman, if that memory Tony had shown him was real. That was something. And it was all over there in that Reader. Waiting for him. It couldn’t be all bad. There must be some good stuff in there. And if he had some of those memories, then he wouldn’t feel so alone. He’d have them to think about, something real instead of ghosts and whispers. If he could only find the remote for it.

Tony had hidden it. But since the only features in the room were the wall of electronics and the bar, it wasn’t a difficult search. He found the remote in a drawer with straws and a cork screw.

There were about 20 buttons on it, confusing as hell, but he found a power button, and a screen came up on the Reader. It was a list of dates. Tony had said he worked during the week, so if he found something on the weekend….there. A Saturday. He pressed the Select button and

…suddenly he was flooded with endorphins. His old bed, rumpled sheets, Carol smiling at him as he finished a languid orgasm. Then they were lying side by side, Carol’s head on Remy’s arm. They were talking about Peter’s soccer game that day. He would take him, Carol would show up after shopping.

Then he was making breakfast and Peter was struggling with his cleats. Carol ran a finger down his neck and further, down his back, and traced a circle at the base of his spine. He caught her by the waist and gave her a kiss. Then she was gone. Keys jingling as she slammed the front door.

And almost immediately, Jake was coming through the door.

“Hey, muchachos!” Jake ruffled Peter’s hair, and called Remy over to the hallway.

“We got a job, come help me with it.”

“Does it look like I can leave. Peter has a soccer game in an hour. Besides it’s my day off.”

“Yeah, well, this one is a bonus. Married couple, both past due four months, two blocks away. You help me get in, we’re done in 20 minutes. Plenty of time to get the kid to his game.”

“I don’t know…” he looked into the kitchen, Peter was eating his cereal.

On the couch, in Tony’s den, Remy was hoping for a miracle. "Say no. Say no." he mumbled.

“A heart and a liver. Big money for little work. Come on.”

And then he was out the door, telling Peter to watch cartoons til he got back, jogging after Jake and sliding into the passenger side of the front seat of Jake’s car.

He directed Jake to the cul de sac two blocks away. They pulled into the couple’s driveway and slammed the car doors as they got out and strode to the front door.

“I’ll knock, you go around back in case they run for it.” Jake said, and Remy was legging over the garden wall when the first shot was heard, cracking the peace of the early morning residential neighborhood. Jake put his shoulder to the door and crashed in. Remy came back around and followed in after him. Guns drawn, they hesitated once inside.

There was another shot. Up stairs. And the sound of a heavy object landing on the floor with a clatter. Up the stairs they went at a trot, and from the landing, they could clearly see the elderly couple , side by side on the bed. The husband on the left, the wife on the right. Remy in the memory found it poignant, even as he entered the bedroom, and got the full effect of gun shot wounds to the head. The husband had been careful, and the wife’s face was untouched. She actually looked peaceful. The husband was in the same position, but tears streaked his face. It must have taken all he had to shoot his wife.

“Good for you.” Remy in the memory said to the dead husband. Remy on the couch was madly pressing buttons to shut the Reader off, and failing.

“You take papa, I’ll take mama, and we’ll be done in no time.” Jake said. Remy pulled out blades and bags from his briefcase.

Remy on the couch, threw the remote down in frustration and ran.

　

　

Upstairs, Tony was struggling with a frustration of his own. Marla was beautiful, smart, funny and hot, hot, hot.. But it all seemed stale somehow. Oh, he could get it up, and Marla was certainly not complaining, but when her iphone went off, and an employee was calling in a panic about a vice squad arrest, he was relieved.

Marla packed up and was gone in ten minutes.

In the eleventh minute, Tony was down the hallway to see how Remy was doing. He popped into his bedroom. Empty, Down to the hall to the den. He could hear voices shouting at each other. When he got there, Remy and Carol were having a battle royal on the screen. 

“They were our neighbors, Remy!" A young woman was screeching at a younger Remy, who was trying to wipe the blood from his hands on a towel. "Did you even stop to think of that? Peter goes to school in this neighbor. Think about your child, Remy. For God’s sake I don’t know how much more I can take of this.”

"Remy?" Tony called. The room was empty.

“Oh Shit!” Tony tore through the house calling Remy’s name. He wasn’t to be found.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Tony berated himself. Why the hell did he think it was okay to leave Remy alone this soon? Where the hell was he? Tony went out the front door.

Outside, he stopped and closed his eyes, trying to imagine where he would go if he were Remy. Running blindly? Looking for a cliff to leap off of? Think. Think. The sound of the ocean crept into his consciousness. The dream state of the coma patients in the hospitals had been seascapes. Living on the shore himself, this detail had lodged in Tony's brain. Maybe he would go to the beach.

Maybe he would drown himself. Maybe he was doing it right now.

Tony took off at a full run, in the dark, down the gravel trail to the beach. He’d never run as fast, but it felt like an hour before he finally left the crunch of gravel for the sinking sand. It was difficult to see, the only light being from the phosphorous on the waves, but Tony blundered on, from the soft sand of the dunes to the packed sand by the waters edge, and jogged along searching the water for Remy, calling his name.

At last he stopped running. Useless. He must have guessed wrong. He should head back up and call for help. Flashlights and helicopters were what he needed. Maybe the Coast Guard.

Slogging back through the sand, he tripped and landed face first.

“Tony?”

Tony realized the driftwood he had just tripped over was Remy, and he now lay awkwardly across his belly.

“Remy? You okay?”

“I was, I think you just broke a couple of my ribs.”

Tony rolled off him and crawled up to sit next to him.

“Why didn’t you answer me?”

“Were you calling?.”

Tony felt awkward now that he had found him. He leaned back on his hands, and Remy did the same. They watched the waves for a minute.

“You turned the Reader on.”

“Yes.” Remy choked on the word. “I was trying to find some friends." He was now burdened with the fresh image of slicing into an old man, still warm, to retrieve the heart. His head ached. He deserve to be chained up like a dog in a backyard. 

 

Tony wrapped his arm around Remy’s shoulder. 

"I'm sorry, Remy. I was stupid to leave you alone." Remy tried to pull away but Tony tugged him closer until Remy gave up struggling and let his head rest in the crook of Tony's neck. Tony felt an odd emotion swell up in his chest. He could see moonlight sparking in the tear filled eyes of his creation. 

Remy groaned. "I've done some really bad things, Tony."

"We all have." He let his chin brush against the bristle brush of Remy's hair. They watched the phosphorous on the waves for a while, then Tony spoke.

“You know, the Doctors told me you have to sleep in my room for the next year.”

He could feel Remy's head twist as he looked up at Tony's face.

“ Why ?”

“Not sure. Some mumbo jumbo psychological stuff. I wasn’t really paying a lot of attention. Anyway… no more of this sleeping on the beach.”

Remy nodded. Tony stood up and took Remy’s hand.

“Come on.” he pulled Remy up, “Let’s go to bed.”


End file.
